Mixing PaRodinal, can be somewhat of a problem for some people. But in fact it is very simple and easy to do. It only requires a little common sense and proper planning, to avoid poor performance.

To make PaRodinal properly, you will require Tylenol, 20ea./500 mg tablets, Sodium Sulfite 70 grams, and a Hydroxide; and of course..., water.

It must be hot water of 125 degrees. Do not use water any cooler than 125 degrees. Why? Because of the fillers in the tablets are designed to dissolve in a very warm environment, and if you use cooler water, the solution will be unnecessarily cloudy.

First add the 70 grams of Sodium Sulfite to the 125 degree 75 ml of water. Next crush the Tylenol tablets and add them to 75 ml of boiled water, and stir the contents. Then add that mixture to your Sodium Sulfite solution. Next add your Hydroxide solution (100 ml) to your Sodium Sulfite/Tylenol solution, and stir until it is uniform in mixture, to make a 250 ml stock solution.

For those persons in the USA, there is no need to mix sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide from a powder or crystal. It now comes in a premixed package, in a liquid form. Just clicks on the links below, one link is the MSDS information data. You can purchase it at "Home Depot", you will require approx. 3 oz of the solution, it is a 50/3 percent mixture of Sodium and Potassium Hydroxide, with the rest being made up of water.

Depending on your brands of Tylenol and Sulfite you use, will determine if filtering is required. If it is, use a funnel and medical cotton balls. Warming the solution will improve its abilities to filter cleaner. and do not forget to dampen the filter cotton, prior to filtering the soltion.

Most developers today are based on metol, metol + hydroquinone, or phenidone + hydroquionone. By varying the amount of sodium sulphite one can make a fine-grain or high acutance-type of developer. Geoffrey Crawley researched all of this beginning back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. There is no advantage to developers like Rodinal today, except that Rodinal keeps rather well.

You position is correct on all levels. And Geoffrey Crawley's, is as well. Yet if a person living in Thailand or Indonesia, may lack the funds to purchase metol, or have little to no access to it. PaRodinal, may be its only way out.

PaRodinal, when used correctly can provide a good universal substitute for most developing agents. And access to the chemicals needed for PaRodinal are not that difficult to obtain. And remember, storage may be an issue as well. Not to mention the high temperatures, in those regions. And let us not forget that PaRodinal, can also be used on paper, just like Rodinal. So the use of only having one developer, is a plus. Where dilution will provide you with better sharpness, reducing your overall cost, making resupply of materials..., much simpler, plus giving one the performance they desire as well.

So, in essence, it could be a win, win.

Thank You

KennyE

Last edited by KennyE on Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Want to be sure I am interpreting this right: I would pour 3 oz. from the jug of drain cleaner into my tylenol/sulfite mixture? Have used a crystal in the past. This would be so much more convenient.
Jim

Just slowly pour the drain cleaner into the tylenol and sulfite solution. You no longer have to mix the crystals, as you did in the past. The drain cleaner is a 50/3 percent mixture of sodium and potassium hydroxides, so the overall ph will be in its standard range of 11 to about 11.7. The rest is made up of water.

This method removes some steps from the process, and reduces some of the risk of handling and mixing hydroxides. But remember to wear your safety gear, it is always better to be safe, than sorry.

Ensure that you use hot water, around 110 to 125 degrees, because the filler materials and film tabs, in and on Tylenol, is design to dissolve in a very warm environment (your stomach). And this will help to reduce the cloudiness that often comes with mixing PaRodinal.

You can make a fine grain developer from Tylenol, with less danger to your health. Since Tylenol contains one of the few phenols that can be tolerated by the human body. But you will need some other chemicals to add to it first, after it is purified.

Thank You

KennyE

Last edited by KennyE on Sat Feb 08, 2014 12:04 pm, edited 3 times in total.

You position is correct on all levels. And Geoffrey Crawley's, is as well. Yet if a person living in Thailand or Indonesia, may lack the funds to purchase metol, or have little to no access to it. PaRodinal, may be its only way out.

PaRodinal, when used correctly can provide a good universal substitute for most developing agents. And access to the chemicals needed are not that difficult to obtain. And remember, storage may be an issue as well. Not to mention the high temperatures, in the region. And let us not forget that PaRodinal, can also be used on paper, just like Rodinal. So the use of only having one developer, is a plus. Where dilution will provide you with better sharpness, reducing your overall cost, making resupply of materials..., much simpler, and give you the performance you desire as well.

So, in essence, it could be a win, win.

Thank You

KennyE

I am sure that Metol, Hydroquinone, Borax, and Sodium Sulphite are among the easiest of all photo chemicals to obtain. D-76 1:1 will do justice to almost every film made. D-23 (just Metol and Sodium Sulphite) is just about the simplest developer there is.

Kenny:
I noticed that your formula calls for 15 tablets of "tylonal", whereas the formula listed on digital truth calls for twice as many, at 30. Is 15 correct with the use of a different type of hydroxide?
Jim

If you use 30 tablets, you will obtain approx: 14 grams of Acetaminophen, plus the filler. There is nothing wrong with using more Aceteminophen. I use 15 tablets, giving approx: 8 grams of Acetaminophen. But I also do something else to the Acetaminophen, I add 10ml of Muriatic Acid. And obtain Acetaminophen HCI. This process will turn your solution yellow because the acid is yellow.

I do it because sometimes the film will come out grainy. And I want the sodium chloride in my solution. You will have very little sodium chloride in your solution using just plain Acetaminophen base. They remove as much salt from the medicine as they can, due to some people having heart conditions and high blood pressure.

It does not matter how many tablets you decide to use, just remember that if you do; you may get too much filler, and you will increase the cloudiness of your solution.

Just work out your dilution ratio and development times, and you should be ok.

Thank You

KennyE

Last edited by KennyE on Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

Its hard to say Jim, because people behave differently in the care of their equipment. I would say 4 months to be on the safe side of things. But there are those persons like yourself, who take care of their items; so it may last longer.

I am still using the batch I made up in May of this year, so it does vary with whom is caring for it.

I am about to try this idea from those persons on Filckr. Take 100ml of PaRodinal, then add ten crystals of Kosher salt, with .125teaspoon of Muriatic Acid. Then heat up a half pint of water to boiling point. Take 100ml of the boiled water @ 125 degrees and add 30 grams of Sulfite, 4 gram of Pyro, and 8 grams of Carbonate. Then mix the two together, in an 8oz water bottle. Add water to fill the bottle and develop @ a 1:60 ratio for 10-12 minutes in small tanks. And see what happens.

Thank You

KennyE

Last edited by KennyE on Sat Feb 08, 2014 12:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Kenny:
Your getting a little more complex than I would go, but I did consider adding a little sea salt to the basic formula. Have you tried combining parodinal with xtol yet? This mixture seems to be popular in some quarters
Jim.

No not yet, thou I have seen and have spoken to those that do develop that way. They use Rodinal, basically the same thing I suppose.

There are some good examples posted on Flickr. What gets me to worry about Flickr is that some photos state that they use Microdol-X to develop a negative, and I see that same negative again in a different group like D-76 or D-23. Claiming it was developed using one of those developers.

Flickr members should do a better job at cataloging their work. Because most members have no information, so you are forced to take their word for it.